Effect of early feed restriction and high-fat realimentation diet on growth and fat accumulation in broiler chicks

Abstract (Media Veteriner. 2001, 8 (1): 19-23). The present study was conducted to evaluate the effect of early feed restriction and high-fat realimentation diet on growth and fat accumulation in broiler chicks. Forty female broilers were obtained from a commercial hatchery (Chunky strain) and raised on cage pens. All chicks were allowed free access to feed from 1 to 7 days of age. At 7 days of age, all chicks were weighed individually, and divided into four groups as follows. The control group was fed ad libitum and the other three experimental groups were fed restrictly for 10 days at level of 55% ad libitum. At 18 days of age, broiler chicks were fed with diet containing 1, 1, 2.5, or 5.4% soybean oil for ad libitum group and other three treatment groups, respectively. As expected, the body weight and feed intake decreased in restricted chicks, regardless of a dietary fat level. Metabolizable energy, N utilization and feed efficiency were increased by feed restriction. It was evident that dietary fat improved these parameters further. Acetyl-CoA carboxylase activity was decreased by an early feed restriction, whereas fatty acid synthetase activity was not significantly decreased. The high-fat realimentation diet decreased fatty acid synthetase activity but not acetyl-CoA carboxylase activity. Protein gain was significantly higher in restricted chicks as compared with the control. In conclusion, high-fat realimentation diet did not induce catch-up growth in broiler chicks. High-fat realimentation diet improved metabolizable energy and N utilization and feed efficiency. One factor that induced catch-up growth was the higher of protein gain during realimentation period.